Justice News

Oakland Man Sentenced To More Than 10 Years In Prison For Sex Trafficking Of A Minor

OAKLAND – Kaybaun Rodgers was sentenced today to 121 months in prison for sex trafficking of a minor, announced United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John Bennett. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Phyllis J. Hamilton, Chief United States District Judge.

Rodgers, 26, whose last known address was in Oakland, Calif., pleaded guilty to the charge on September 5, 2018. According to the plea agreement, between August 28, 2016, and February 19, 2017, he used the website Backpage.com to advertise the availability of a minor for commercial sex acts. Rodgers posted at least 46 advertisements depicting and describing the minor victim. Rodgers also admitted that from August 28, 2016, to April 20, 2018, he collected proceeds from the minor which were derived from the commercial sex acts in which the minor participated. For example, on April 20, 2018, Rodgers instructed the minor to send him $50 via Western Union after she had received $200 in exchange for a commercial sex act.

Rodgers further admitted that on October 24, 2017, he went to a hotel room where he made a video recording of the minor and a male who had solicited a commercial sex act through one of the Rodgers’s Backpage.com advertisements. In the recording, Rodgers confirmed with the minor that she had received $120 for performing the sex act. Rodgers then attempted to extort additional money from the man by threatening to post the video on Facebook unless the man paid more money.

Rodgers also used the minor to produce visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct and used his cellular telephone to record videos depicting the minor performing sex acts on himself.

On August 2, 2018, Rodgers was charged in a federal information with one count of sex trafficking of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951(a)(1), (a)(2) and (b)(2). Pursuant to his plea agreement, Rodgers pleaded guilty to the charge.

In addition to the prison term, Chief Judge Hamilton sentenced the defendant to a 20-year period of supervised release. Rodgers also was ordered to register as a sex offender. The defendant has been in custody since his arrest in April of 2018 and will begin serving his sentence immediately.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Ann Baehr-Jones is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Michelle Alter. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Union City Police Department.